And the winners are…

Thanks to the help of a panel of judges formed by some of the industry's most knowledgeable LPs, and votes from the Asian private equity industry, the winners were announced at the recently concluded 2012 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum China in Beijing on May 30.

Leading the way is Hony Capital, which retained its title as ‘Firm of the Year.' The Beijing-headquartered firm, led by John Zhao, also took home the ‘US Dollar Fundraising' prize for its fifth US-dollar denominated fund, which closed in January at $2.4 billion. Hony's awards marked a busy 12 months for the Chinese PE firm, which made a string of stand-out investments, including state-owned Qinhuangdao Yaohua Glass and Japan's Tokai Kanko, and secured a $208 million exit from its holding in New China Life Insurance. As for the fundraising prize, with barely four months in the market, Hony was able to close its China-focused vehicle on more than $1 billion more than its predecessor, which closed in 2008.

KKR's head of China, David Liu, was the winner of the ‘Private Equity Professional of the Year' prize. Liu's award paid tribute to KKR's broad portfolio of transactions over the last year. These included water treatment company United Envirotech, luxury car dealership Rundong Auto, clothing retailer China Outfitters, property firm Sino Prosperity and healthcare specialist China Cord Blood. Liu has also been instrumental in building out an investment team recognized as one of the most diversified and stable in the country.

The ‘Private Equity Deal of the Year' category was won by DST Advisors, Silver Lake, Temasek Holdings and Yunfeng Capital for their investment in Alibaba Group. The deal was to a large extent recognized as a one-off: a $1.6 billion employee liquidity event, with a challenging structure, which allowed private capital to enter one of China's most exciting companies.

Unlike the private equity category, the ‘Venture Capital Deal of the Year' award went to a transaction that has been years in the making. Sequoia Capital has backed restaurant listings and reviews site Dianping.com since its early rounds and in April 2011, participated in a $100 million investment in the company alongside Lightspeed Venture Partners, Qiming Venture Partners and TrustBridge Partners.

Other awards went to Bo Feng of Ceyuan Ventures for ‘Venture Capital Professional of the Year', Co-Win Capital's RMB2.5 billion Nanhai Growth Fund V for 'Renminbi Fundraising of the Year', and Affinity Equity Partners and Unitas Capital for their exit from Beijing Leader & Harvest Electric Technologies.

Lou Jiwei, CEO of China Investment Corporation, won the AVCJ Special Achievement Award for his and his organization's contribution to the development of private equity and venture capital in China and the rest of the world.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• China
• KKR
• Hony Capital
• Affinity Equity Partners
• CIC
• Silver Lake